Band-saw guide



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-,-Sheet 1.

- 3. 'MGGHESNEY.

BAND SAW GUIDE. No. 276,259. 7 Patented Apr-14,1883.

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l A flit-02 7169 BAND SAW GUIDE.

No. 276,259. Patented ApIuZ L 1883.

' I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- REUBENMGGHESNEY, FR ANKFORT, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNOR T HALL 8s BROWN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

BAND-SAW GUIDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,259, dated April 24, 1883. Application filed Ixovember 20, 1882. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, REUBEN MoOHEsNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Frankfort, in the county of Herkimer and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Band-Saw Machines, of which the following is a specification. Myinvention relates to band-saw machines in which saw-guides are arranged above and 10 below or on each side of the Operative point of the saw, so as to maintain the saw in astraight line and from a lateral or wavering movement, which saw-guides have a back plate, against which the smooth back edge of the saw is held,

and over which thesaw travels.

The objects of my invention are to provide means for adjusting one of the saw-guides toward or from the other, to accommodate the guides to thick and thin lumber, as the case 2c may be, so as to attain the greatest possible effect of the guides upon the saw whether the lumber be of greater or less thickness; to pro vide for the adjustment of thejaws ofthc guide toward or from each other, so that while the 2 5 saw may be free to travel between the jaws there will he no excess ot'spacewhen thinner blades are used,-and on the other hand the jaws be adapted for operation upon differing thicknesses of saw-blades; to provide a saw- 0 guide the jaws of which maybe adjusted at a right angle to the length or line of travel ofthe blade through the jaws toaccommodatc said jaws to and permit their successful operation upon saw-blades materiallydiffering' in 5 width; to provide means for automaticallyactuating the back plateof a sawguide, so that the bearing and frictiouof-the saw will be congrooving of the back plate by the saw-blade is effectually prevented t to provide means for [connecting the automatically-actuated back plate with power mechanism, so that the adjustable guide may be adjusted without requiringany adjustmentoftheconnectingmechanism of the back plate with the power meoh- 5 5 anism; and, finally, to providecertain novel details of construction, hereinafter fully described. I attain these objects by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which V Figure 1 is a detail front elevation of a bandsaw machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a similar view,showing the non-adjustable saw-guide arranged under the table, and the mechanism for actuating said guide and the saw-blade Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section. through the center of the saw-guide; Fig.

4,a horizontal section of the same; Fig. 5, a front elevation of the back plate with lines in- 'dicating the path of the saw upon said plate when the several parts of my machine are in operation; and Fig. 6, a detail side elevation of my machine, showing the arrangementof the mechanism connecting the saw-guide back plate with the power mechanism. Similar letters and numerals of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings. 3 t Referring to Fig. 2, A represents the driveband-saw wheel keyed upon a shaft, a, and

actuated by any suitablemeans to give the band-saw the desired rate of speed.

Mountedabove the wheel A and above the table B is a band-sawwheel, U, the bearing of which isin ajournal-box, c, confined and vertically adjustable in a slotted but rigid frame or bracket, D,the adjustment of the journal. box being attained by a screw-threaded rod, cl, operating in the bracket, and hearing at its upper end againstaud supporting said box. 0 Wheel 0 derives its power from the band-saw E, whichin turn derives its power from the wheel A, the adjustment of the wheel 0 serving to give the band-saw the desired tension for that purpose, and for the further purpose 5 of adjusting the wheels to the band-saw as it becomes shortened bybrazing after breaking as they frequently do. Bracket 1D extends laterally over the operating-table B, and has cast therewith or otherwise secured a head, 1, oo

longitudinally perforated to form a bearin g for a vertically-adjustable shaft, 2, held,when a'djusted, by a thumb-screw, 3, passing through the head 1 and impinging against the shaft.

To the lower end of the shaft 2 is secured, at a right angle thereto, a. plate, 4, to which in turn is secured, by means of a set-screw, 5, the saw guide. (See Fig. 3.) The end of shaft 2 is squared, and is provided with a shoulder and nut, between which plate 4 is confined, and is adjustable toward and from the saw by reason of the elongation of the slot through which the shaft projects, this adjustmentproviding for advancing the saw-guide forward asthe saw-band wheels become worn and 'correspondingly diminished in diameter. I, A lateral adjustment of the saw-guide may be made, owingto the elongation of the slot of plate 4in' which screw 5 operates; but as the'elongations and consequent atljustnientof theparts are not of my invention they are not shown, and only described todemonstrate their adaptability tomy particular devices.

The operatiye parts of the saw-guide are confined and supported by a hollow cylindrical housing, 6, clamped to the plate 4 by the screw 5, and provided with a shoulder or flange, 7, fittingagainst the front edge of plate 4,-so as to prevent the housing from turning when operating the screw, and to render the 7 housing rigid when the guide isin operation,

said flange terminating in a bearing, 8,.for a wormscrew, hereinafter described.

Qonfi ned by and bearing in the housing is a perforated cylindrical bushing, 9', the aide of which perforation is eccentric to the axis ot'the bushing, or, in other words, the perforationistormed in and nearerone side of the bushing than the other, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. This bushing may be rotated uponits own axis or reciprocated in the housing, and isheld inthe position to which it is adjusted by'a thumb-screw, 10, passing through the wallsof the housing and impinging against the walls of the bushing. The perforation in thebushing receives the jaws 11 11 of the sawg'uide',which jaws, when taken together, form the outline of a cylinder cored out at its center, split at one end to form thejaws, a'n d perforated at its opposite end to receive a thumbscrew, 12, frce to turn, but not reciprocate in thef bushing 9, and thereby reciprocate the jaws, which are prevented fronifhavi'ng an axial movement by an internal stud, 13, engaging with a longitudinal groove, 14, in one ofthe jaws. Gonstructing the jaws in this mannergives them a springaction, so

when releasedfro n'the pressure of a thumbscrew 15, working in the housing and projectingthron'gh the bushing, they will spring apart, andon the otherhand may be moved toward each other to adapt them for efit'ectiyely guiding band-saws differing in thickn,ess.

The shanks of the jaws being morerigidfl ah their ends has the effect of converging areflin: Ynert'aces of thejaws toward their-ends, at which" points thejawsare taced with steelpla'tes 16 16,

which are better capable of standing without wear the friction of the saw, and which dispense with the necessity of tempering the entire body of thejaws, and provide by their remoyabilityand reversibility against the necessity ofrenewi-ng. the jaws when worn, it the plates were omitted.

Plates 16 16 are secured to the jaws by countersunk set-screws, the countersinking of which renders the ends of the jaws plain, so

that no surface is presented against which the saw E can catch as it travels between the J ws.

Converging the inner faces of the jaws, as above described, directs the wear of the saw against the steel plates, and not the body of the j awe, andeifectually prevents the saw from crowdi g toward its rear edge between the jaws,xand, furthermore, provides for a more accurate adjustment of the jaws to the thinner gage of saws; but of course the jaws or their inner faces may be constructed so as to move parallel to each other, instead of as above described, without substantially departing from the spiritot my invention. The longitudinal adjustment or the jaws renders them effective guides upon saws varying inwidth that is to say, thejaws may be adjusted so as; to confiiie the entire width of saw-blades, difl'ering in width without projecting forward of the teeth of the saw.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that it a mediiiin width saw-blade erebetween thejaws andthe points of theteeth were fiushwith the ends'of the jaws, the blade could have no lateral movement; but if a wider blade were inserted withoutinoving the jaws outwardly,the proiecti'ng portion or the blade would not be effected by the guide; hence would have an unsteady movement. so, on the other hand, a narrow bladecould not operate between the tempered faces of the guide', nor could it be so nicely adjust'edi't' the jaws extended any con siderable distance beyond the teeth.

Bwilg l ef ard end of the not-s ing 6 and the bushing 9 is an annular w'orin plate 18, which is the back plate of the sawu d v Gear 17 isen'gaged by a worm, 21, journaled jecting end a sheave, 22, actuated by a cord or belt, 23, which passes around a sheave, 24,

'journaled inthe upper end of the shaft 2, thence in the bearings, and having keyed on its pro-- under a sheave, 25, pivotedin the bracket D,

the plate derives plate.

and around a sheave, 26, on the shaft or hub of thewheel (l, and thence over thesh'eave25 down to sheave 22.

of even tension,whether the shaft 2 be at its highest or lowest adjustment, and avoids the necessity of shortening or lengthening the belt when changing the adjustment of the shaft to raise and lower the guide for adapting it for thick and thin lumber to be sawed, it being understood that the guide must'necessarily be raisedto permit the lumber resting on the table to pass freely under the guide.

If the guide were at an elevation for thick lumber, the efi'ectivess of the guide upon the saw, when thin lumber is substituted, would be diminished, owing to a portion of the saw-blade between the guide and lumber being free to twist and waver, for it will be understood that the walls in the cut in the lumberareauxiliary to the guide itself in preventing a lateral or wavering motion of the saw.

Actuating the gear-wheel, and with it the back-plate, 1S, by means of a worm, provides fora very low velocity of the back plate as compared with the saw-band wheel, from which its power to revolve, and at the same time dispenseswith complicated gearing, not only expensive and liable to get out of order, but unnecessarily exhausting power of the machine which should be directed to the saw. 1

Of course my invention is not limited to the mechanism shown and described for revolving the back plate at a less velocity than the saw; but it is desirable that it should be revolved at a slow enough rate of speed consistent with the desired change of surface'presented to the saw, and the friction of the plate directed laterally against the saw, by reason ofthe revolutions of the back plate against and the rapid longitudinal movement of the saw. u

To prevent the lumber shifted about under the guide from catching on-the gear-wheel, an angular plate, 27, is secured on the underside of the housing, and projects forward over and guards the teeth from any such liability.

Revolving back plates possess great advan-' tages over the stationary ones commonly employed, for the reason that, continually pre senting a new surface to the saw, the Wear of theplate in radial lines is materially dimin-.

ished; therefore a revolving back plate broadly considered forms an important feature of my invention, and is not limited by the special means now to be described, by which the grooving of the plate in radial or other lines is effectually avoided.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 4, it will be observed that the liue of travel of the saw is at one side of the axis of the back plate, and axis of the jaws and is a chord upon the circle formed by the back With the saw in operatiqn and the back plate revolving the efl'ect of this arrange- This arrangement'of the belt.23 renders it automatically adjustable and i derstood ment is to continually shift the center from which the lines radiate. Hence theradiating lines will cross each other, as shown in Fig. 5, and not only effectually prevent the saw from grooving the plate, but, on thecontrary, main tain the surface of the plate even and smooth; as it is gradually and necessarily worn away by the friction of the saw; and, furthermore, the back edge of the saw is prevented from an uneven wear, became face. p r a The-advantages of myinvention may be un when it is remembered thatwith a stationary back plate or with one revolved at intervals the saw becomes case-hardened on its back edge by reason of frictional heat, and in consequence its fe'cted, and, furthermore, the grooves worn in the back plate cause the saw to twist, and prevent its efl'ective operation.

My construction also avoids the necessity of stopping themachine to move the back plate, so that it will present an unworu surface to the saw, and also the expense andtime of replacing worn back plates with new ones.

In Fig. 2 is shown a similar saw-guide and means for actuating the same precisely like the one just described, except so far as the arrangement of the belt is modified by reason of the guide being stationary so far as a vertical adjustment is concerned, and its actuation by the power-wheel of the band-saw, and the small sheave to keep the belt from contact with the felly of the drive-wheel. This lower stationary guide is an auxiliary to the upper guide and essential for effectively guiding the saw, which effectiveness is increased like and for the same reasons assigned to the upper guide, and, taken with the upper guide, renders the machine perfect in operation so far durability is seriously cf.

as can be attained through guiding mechanism.

To adapt the guide when the machine is .used for resawin g,

auxiliary and larger jaws 27 (see dotted lines Fig. 4) are rigidly secured to the jaws 11 in any suitable manner.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

"1. The combination, in a saw-guide, with the revolving back plate and means for actuating the same, of guide-jaws eccentric to said back plate, substantially as described.

2. A saw-guide consisting of a cylinder divided longitudinally for a portion ofits length,

so that the two sides form spring-jaws, a suitable support for the same, and mechanism for adjusting thejaws toward each other, substantial] y as described.

3. "A saw-guide the jaws of which are formed of asingle cylindrical piece of metal cored out as described, in combination with a support,

and means'for adjusting said jaws with refer-' ence to each other, substantially as described.

4. In a saw-guide,the combination, with the guide-jaws and support of a rotating bushing, and means for actuating the same, substantially as described.

5. In a saw-guide, the combination, with the back plates, of the bushing provided with segmental ribs overlapping and embracing said plates, and means for operating said parts, substantially as described.

6. The c0mbinati0n,with the revolving back plate, and means for actuating the same, of the ribbed bushing and the guide-jaws, said bushing forming a bearing for the jaws supporting the back-plate, substantially as described.

7. The'combinatiomwith the removable back 1 5 plate, the gear-wheels faced by said plate, and a worm-gear, of mechanism, substantially as described, connecting said worm-gear'with the shaft of the saw-band wheel to actuate the back plate, substantially as described.

8. The combinatiomwith the shaft 2, the revolving back plate, and the power-shaft, of a belt, 23, and suitable driving-pulleys, all arranged substantially as described.

' REUBEN MGOHESNEY.

Witnesses JNo. G. ELLIOTT, W. W. ELLIOTT. 

